Program Information

Our community’s trailblazing rabbis, artists, scholars, educators, and others have deep, invaluable knowledge of Jewish practice, text, and community – yet they often struggle with the business know-how and connections needed to take their organizations to the next level.

The UpStart Venture Accelerator provides a select cohort of our community’s most promising ventures with the training, connections, and funding needed to activate a plan for sustained growth and impact.

Connections: Facilitated connections to our network of consultants, advisors, funders, and alumni, as well as to a cohort of inspiring and ambitious peers.

Funding: Access to a pool of unrestricted funding, encouraged to use on experimentation towards scaling growth and impact.

Program Focus

The Network

UpStart Venture Accelerator organizations connect to a diverse community of entrepreneurs and ventures expanding the picture of how Jews find meaning and come together. Learn more about the UpStart Venture Alumni Network.

What Alumni are Saying

When things got tough, the UpStart network sustained me. I saw that my mission was important to other people, and there was a whole team of people that had my back. I’m not sure if JLens would be around if I hadn’t participated in UpStart.”
– Julie Hammerman, JLens

Within the first year of joining the Accelerator, we doubled in every conceivable metric from participants to dollars to staff. That trajectory has only continued, and now we’re poised to serve thousands more students across the world.
– Alex Jakubowski, KAHAL: Your Jewish Home Abroad

Learn More about Your Eligibility

If your organization is interested in applying but not sure you’re eligible, sign up to learn more about eligibility requirements, application criteria, and program design at one of our three free webinars: